Brave deeds on the football pitch are putting New Zealand on the map, Finn O'Dwyer-Cunliffe writes from Ireland.
Mark Paston sprawled to his right and fisted away a fierce Italian shot from 25 yards, providing the Azzurri with one of the many corners they had during the game.
The cheer went up, "I-ta-lia! I-ta-lia!".
It was deafening but that was as loud as these perplexed fans would get for the remainder of the match.
Despite being somewhat devastated about not being at home for the one year New Zealand has made the football World Cup, I have had the pleasure of soaking in the atmosphere in Dublin's foremost sports bar - The Woolshed and Baa - which doubles as an Australian- and Kiwi-themed watering hole.
The midday Tuesday kick-off time for the game against Slovakia meant that six Kiwis dancing around in joy at Winston Reid's dramatic late equaliser was the most activity the bar saw during the match.
For the next match the Kiwis were massively outnumbered by the Italians.
Needless to say it was the Kiwis celebrating at full-time.
This was undoubtedly New Zealand football's greatest result, by some distance.
I am tempted to believe that it was the greatest achievement in New Zealand sporting history considering the context, although placing a drawn match in that category does seem like a bit of an oversell.
One thing the result may contribute to is a greater international recognition of our small nation in the South Pacific.
"Small nation in the South Pacific" seems a bit of a harsh assessment doesn't it?
We're a well-developed nation known for its beautiful scenery and friendly locals.
We're the home of the most famous rugby team on the planet and the most popular fantasy film trilogy of recent times.
We produced the first man to split the atom and the first man to reach Everest's summit as well as creating the electric fence and the pavlova.
So people know all about us ... right?
Well, wrong actually.
My experience is that people generally know very little about the Land Of The Long White Cloud.
OK, so everyone has heard of the All Blacks, they all know that the Lord of the Rings was filmed there and when I tell people I'm from New Zealand I very often get an instant response: "Hey, Flight of the Conchords!".
Who knew that two musical comedians and Murray would become the face of Aotearoa overseas?
The sad part of the story is what people don't know about New Zealand, or what they somehow fail to understand.
First of all, people in Ireland and England hear my accent and assume I'm from Australia, which can by itself be forgiven, but it's the next thing they say that often disturbs me.
When I tell them I'm from New Zealand answers vary from, "Oh I thought that was like part of Australia" to "Where's that" or even "I've never heard of it".
Those who are slightly more in tune with geography suddenly become very apologetic when making the initial mistake and then say, "Isn't that like saying an Irish person is English?".
I've taken to just saying, "not really" instead of explaining that the lack of an historical feud involving sectarian conflict, partition and oppression makes our relationship with Australia and Australians slightly different.
A lot of people are unaware that New Zealand has two main islands, few know anything about the Maori or the fact that we're part of the Commonwealth and pretty much no-one I've asked has been able to name our Prime Minister.
My sister and I have agreed that those of us living in the southern hemisphere are forced to learn a lot more about the northern hemisphere than the other way around.
Still, it's a bit shocking to find many people don't know that summer in Ireland means it is winter in New Zealand.
I admit that it can be fun to take advantage of this.
I have a new friend who had never met a New Zealander before me and she has demanded that I tell her more about my home country.
She asked a few weeks ago what we ate in New Zealand and, thinking it was a funny question, I told her that instead of having Sunday roasts we eat native birds and lizards as a delicacy.
She didn't question this for a second and told me she didn't think she'd like to try lizard.
On the eve of the All Whites' game against Slovakia, the BBC World Cup team couldn't help cracking wise jokes at the thought of even watching New Zealand.
Now people over here are genuinely shocked.
You can hear the surprise in the pundits' voices every time they mention us.
New Zealand held the world champions.
New Zealand?
Yes indeed.
And even though they didn't progress to the final 16, maybe, just maybe, people will now take some time to learn more about the home of the plucky overachievers from the South Pacific.
Finn O'Dwyer-Cunliffe is an Otago University politics student on a year's exchange at University College Dublin, in Ireland.
